Ari at six months

As Ari grows, he becomes more and more fun to play with.

He's an easy going, curious and contended kiddo. For the first three or four months, we didn't have much  nothing makes him happier or causes him to giggle louder than our faces, especially if they're making funny noises or comically bopping about. He’s at that magical age where he really doesn’t need much other than us - he’s happy with a bag of spoons or some nice chewy silicone ice moulds from the kitchen.

But I've loved learning about how he's exploring the world, figuring out what we can do to help him do that and making our home his home too. Ben and I spent a recent weekend creating a dedicated play space for Ari in the living room so I thought I'd share our set up, as well as a little about what we do in it every day. (These shots were taken over the course of a few days, so light and details (and outfits!) vary.

We're taking a Montessori-inspired approach, and we hope that his play space reflects that.  For us, it means preparing his environment thoughtfully and creating a simple but engaging area stocked with a few good quality, age-appropriate toys.

As you can see, Ari's things are stored on a low shelf, organised into open baskets. The idea is to have his things at his eye level so he can easily see everything (and eventually scoot over to it to help himself). We've since pared it back even more (below), as he kind of roly polys his way over to it, so we wanted to make it easy for him to grab what he was after.

There are some great infant Montessori shelves out there (this one, for example), but we live in a small apartment and needed something that could be repurposed once Ari moves on to a bigger shelving unit. This standalone shelf, from my fave Lisbon interiors store Area, actually stacks to create a cool bookcase, meaning we can add to it over time. As it's also in our living room, it was nice to get something that complemented the rest of the space.

The shelf sits on grey foam tiles by Skip Hop, and we recently added a gorgeous activity mat from Etsy store MerciSuzy that's makes it an even comfier spot to roll around on

(Above: I love this wooden toy camera, an awesome present from "shoot auntie" Lesiele)

Another big part of the space is Ari's wooden activity gym from Plan Toys, a sustainable toy company based in Thailand. I love that you can easily swap out their mobiles for your own, which proved very handy now once Ari moved on to more tactile play (see below). We ordered it from Smallable, which has a beautiful collection of children's toys. (We also got a few of my niece's and nephews Christmas presents there, including this awesome cape for Isabel.)

Toys and Montessori Materials

Where possible, we've gone for things that meet him where he’s at now - grasping and grabbing, exploring and mouthing, rocking and sometimes rolling - but are open-ended enough that he’ll get fun out of them for months to come. There's a mix of toys and a few traditional Montessori materials, we're not overly strict about it. Where we can, we buy either from independent online shops, Etsy (great for Montessori stuff) or pick things up locally (though for Lisbon stores without an online presence, I've popped in links to similar pieces on Amazon).

Bells, beads and rattles

These were some of Ari's earliest toys. He loved (and still loves!) grasping and exploring his Haba clutching beads. They were particularly brilliant when he first started grabbing, as he struggled to get his little fingers around most things.

As soon as he showed interest, we hung this ring and bell mobile from Etsy store Bunny and Bella from his play gym. He loved swatting and kicking it.

Thanks to generous friends and family, he's acquired a really fun little collection of rattles. Some of his favourites include two gorgeous ones from Liewood (Elton and Anna), the lovely, soft fabric LeoLeo lion rattle from Irish store The Little Wooden Peg, a colourful ring rattle my sister gave him and and awesome crocheted cactus one.

Honestly, I thought it didn't get any better than receiving gifts - turns out, your kid receiving gifts is the best of all and I can't get over the love and generosity from family and friends, especially all the way over here in Lisbon.

Encouraging movement: Balls

I was excited to introduce Ari to a Montessori puzzle ball. It has lots of places where it can be easily grabbed, so he can practise his gripping and pulling, and features different patterns and textures for him to explore – I sometimes hang it from the baby gym too, so it doubles as a fun tactile mobile and gets his feet in on the action as well.

(Gah! Can we just pause for a minute to admire those adorable lil' toes 😍? I must kiss them a thousand times a day)

Once he’s a little older and starting to scoot or crawl, the ball's gentle roll should challenge him to stretch and move without frustrating him as much as a regular ball might. There are tons of puzzle balls on Etsy, but I liked this black and white Wee Gallery one, which we got on Kidly.

Another recent addition is this set of colourful sensory balls (we got ours on Kidly as well, but they're no longer listed). They're great for encouraging stretching and grasping but Ari also really enjoys gnawing away on them (especially the pacifier ball, below, which he can suck on too). I've packed the bigger and less textured ones away for now as they roll from him too quickly and are too hard for him to grasp.

Finally we have a couple of board books, which are stacked in the a little book basket in the handy right-hand nook of the shelf.

We also have a few books stashed around the apartment: a cute fabric fold out baby book, which he's had since he was a few weeks old and is great for tummy time, these mini black and white books (which are also brilliant for out and about), and around 3-4 books for bedtime reading. By far and away, his favourite right now is the lovely On the Night You we're Born. I would have thought Ari was far too young to have favourites, but I'm telling you, his face lights up when we read him this. It captivates him more than any other book.

And that's it! Thanks for joining me on this play time tour. If you have any tips or questions, hit me up!